Take Charge of your Online Reputation

Posted on by May 30, 2013

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5 Simple Ways to Help Manage Your Online Reputation

We live in a world where communication is near instant, word travels unbelievably fast, and if you’re not alert your online reputation can be trashed in nanoseconds. Many aren’t cognizant how vital it is to safeguard your online reputation. Cone Communications reports that some 89 percent of consumers regard online channels are trustworthy sources, and that another 80 percent have gone so far as to change their mind about a purchase after reading a negative comment or review. Further, your social media is where they’re talking about you. The Society for Communications Research reports that 72 percent said they research companies through social channels before making purchases, and that 59% use social sites to air their frustrations about your customer service. read more

Text Message Marketing

Posted on by May 28, 2013

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SMS Marketing – Reach People Where They Live – Their Phones!

Who would have thought that text messaging, which was generally the land of the pre-teens, would morph into anything as valuable and powerful as SMS marketing? In just a very short time, SMS (simple message service) has shown to be a proven alternative option to email marketing. Achieving more and more popularity, it’s challenging to find anybody who is not using text messages in one way or another.

Why SMS marketing deserves a serious look read more

Ginger-Lime Grilled Beef Salad

Posted on by May 23, 2013

It’s Memorial Day weekend coming up, and that means picnics and grilling parties, right? Well, we have a great grilled beef salad to share today and it’s a favorite in my family. The beef has a wonderful flavor, and when topped on a salad, it’s a nice light summer meal. I hope you enjoy!

ginger-lime-grilled-beef-salad

Ingredients
1 lb top-round London Broil or flank steak
3 T. lime juice, divided
3 T. low-sodium soy sauce
3 T. vegetable oil
2 T. brown sugar
1 t. minced garlic
1 1/2 t. minced ginger
1 t. chili garlic sauce (or red curry paste)
1/2 head red-leaf lettuce (or mixture of lettuce, I like an organic spinich mix)
3 green onions, thinly sliced for garnish
1 c. basil leaves, sliced into ribbons (optional) read more

Daily Deal Sites

Posted on by May 23, 2013

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Daily Deal Sites – Look Beyond What You Read

You’d think from all the hate that’s been written about daily deal sites, and the way they are all a thing of the past as a means to market your local business, we wouldn’t like them either. You’d be wrong. There’s an awful lot that goes into making daily deal sites enhance your local business, and a few well-publicized failures, shouldn’t be the reason to avoid the daily deal model. As a matter of fact, when you take a close look, the lion’s share of them “failures” had plenty in common, particularly a glaring misunderstanding of the best way to run a daily deal promotion, poor negotiation of their deals, and not keeping track of their new customers redemption and spending. Given that they had unbelievable fails in these areas, is it any wonder they failed? read more

Marketing Automation

Posted on by May 21, 2013

5-13-marketing-automationUse these marketing automation tools to free up time and money

Are there just not enough of you? Are you feeling not only overwhelmed with the mountain of tasks that lie before you daily, but also more than a little afraid that things are slipping through the cracks? You’re not the only one. Because of the complexity and the sheer number of moving parts that go into online marketing in multiple channels these days, you absolutely need to employ some measure of marketing automation, or you may find it tough to compete. Let’s take a look at some real time savers. read more

Website Management

Posted on by May 16, 2013

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5 Easy Ways to Spruce Up Your Site

Just like your home, your small business website also requires a yearly spring-cleaning. It’s very easy to let things slip, and the consequence of that could be a decline in traffic, reputation and ultimately sales. This can be a rather insidious way for you to lose traction with your website, as you don’t necessarily see it taking place. But it’s very real, and can have very real results.

So in the spirit of prevention, here are 5 ways you can make a positive change in how your sites appear, operate and prosper. read more

Easiest Way to Boost Your Social Media Mojo

Posted on by May 14, 2013

4-13-three-ways-to-increase-social-engagementTop Social Media Tips – How to Engage with Ease!

Long, long ago in an internet far away (roughly a year ago) it was not too difficult to rank your site’s pages in the search engine results. All you had to do was optimize the pages, have good, original content, and to gather a vast variety of backlinks to your pages.

Ahh, the good ‘ol days.

Google, in their quest to create a more relevant, social collection of search results, has made the game a bit more intricate. In addition to being sure we are still doing most if not all of the above tasks, social signals now are playing a vital part in the Google search results algorithm, the formula used to determine where our pages rank in the search stratosphere. read more

e-Newsletter (surprising effectiveness)

Posted on by May 9, 2013

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How to use an E-newsletter to engage your list!

To a lot of people, the e-newsletter may seem like a relic of a bygone era, a time when we used painfully slow dial-up Internet services like AOL and “surfed” the web using Netscape. In spite of becoming a little long in the tooth (in Internet years), the e-newsletter is still an exceptionally powerful marketing tool your business shouldn’t ignore. E-newsletters remain an excellent medium for engaging customers, building authority and driving sales. The Direct Marketing Association says that every $1 spent on email marketing creates $40 in revenue. Aweber tells us that 77 percent of small business owners report that email helps them increase revenue. read more

Reputation Management Tips

Posted on by May 7, 2013

4-13-five-reputation-strategies5 Powerful Online Reputation Management Strategies You Can Count On

Think your online reputation doesn’t matter? Think again! According to a study by Erik Qualman of Socialnomics.com, nearly three-quarters of respondents say they trust the info provided by total strangers online. Further, some 80 percent of consumers have changed their minds about buying a product after reading a negative review online, and over 84 percent say they find online product reviews to be a trustworthy source of information. read more

Facebook Advertising Secrets

Posted on by May 2, 2013

4-13-five-tips-for-facebook-imagesHow to Use Facebook Ads to Gather Leads and Sales

Facebook ads are among the fastest, easiest and most effective do-it-yourself platforms for getting traffic to your offers, building prospect lists, and for practically any other objective imaginable for your website. Ad campaigns are extremely simple to set up, include excellent targeting tools, and can be online in minutes. There is one factor to understand, however, when it comes to obtaining the best results and return on investment: That is finding the most effective images available. It has been shown that imagery is 70-89 percent of the success or failure of a Facebook ad campaign. Let’s have a look at some useful tips for obtaining the most from your Facebook ad images. read more